Ring binders are commonly used in home, school, and business environments to store and present sheets of paper. Conventional ring binders may be manufactured, for example, using a single sheet of plastic that forms a spine with integral front and back covers, or by using vinyl-clad cardboard to form the spine and covers. A set of rings to hold the papers and a supporting structure, which may include a mechanism to open and close the rings, are typically attached to the spine or back cover to complete the binder. Ring binders are available in a variety of sizes and ring configurations to accommodate various sizes and quantities of paper.
Binder manufacturers and office supply retailers often dedicate a significant amount of display and warehouse space to conventional ring binders which, due to the nature of their design, are somewhat bulky. As a result of this bulk, when ring binders are packaged for shipping, the boxes that contain the binders cannot be densely packed and are typically half filled with air. The disadvantages associated with the inherent bulkiness of conventional ring binders persist at the point of retail display and sale. When the ring binders are placed on a retail shelf, they can often occupy a significant amount of space in order to adequately display the typical breadth of available binder sizes, colors, and other features. End-users can also experience issues with storing and handling bulky conventional ring binders prior to use.
This Background is provided to introduce a brief context for the Summary and Detailed Description that follow. This Background is not intended to be an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter nor be viewed as limiting the claimed subject matter to implementations that solve any or all of the disadvantages or problems presented above.